Greetings from Scottsdale, Arizona! I have just finished the first day at the National Teacher of the Year Program Conference. We had an amazing day of training from SMART Technology. The first part of the day was spent getting familiar with SMART projectors and document cameras. These two incredible machines are ready to be unpacked in my classroom as we speak, but I wanted to attend the training before unwrapping this exciting equipment. This afternoon each State Teacher of the Year presented one slide that told a little bit about himself or herself. I talked about King, Expeditionary Learning, focusing on Habits of Work, and being an experienced (VERY experienced) teacher. It was a great way to introduce ourselves and learn a little about each state and each school.

I have never traveled to this part of the United States, so I am enjoying the opportunity to explore a bit. I have taken many pictures, including a few of the beautiful vegetation here. For the Windsor-7 students reading this blog, see if you can identify the species of cacti I have photographed (below) and one or two interesting facts. (Look at the two large plants on the right side of the photo.) You can send me an email or write a comment if you figure it out.

It was exciting to meet two other Expeditionary Learning teachers at the conference. One is representing the District of Columbia and the other is the Teacher of the Year from Minnesota. We are already been sharing information about EL and hope to get more of a chance to share.

You can't help but feel extremely hopeful about the future of education when you talk to all of the State Teachers of the Year. I feel so proud to be representing King Middle School, the Portland Public Schools, and the State of Maine!

It is so great to get an update on one of your most exciting experiences as Teacher of the Year. It is also really great to hear that you have met 2 other EL teachers!
We of course miss you at King and some kids have been checking out the blog. So happy for you and can't wait to hear all about it. Thanks for representing King and all teachers in the Great State of Maine.

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Alessia

01/24/2014 6:07am

It is a saguaro cactus. They can grow over 20 meters tall. It is one of the defining plants in the Sonoran Desert. And they grow arms as they age. It is endangered. Thats is why Arizona has strict regulations about harvesting the species.

We are reporting to you from our community meeting and wanted you to know that we are proud of you and hope you are having fun! We all miss you and of course we are working hard -especially in LA. It is frigid here-how is the weather there.

Windsor 7

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Sadie

01/27/2014 3:19pm

That's so cool! You're really lucky!

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Karen MacDonald is a teacher at King Middle School in Portland, Maine, where she teaches language arts. She loops with her sixth and seventh grade students and hopes her students and members of the Maine community will follow her journey through the blog. She will post regularly about her experiences serving as Maine's Teacher of the Year for 2014. Please follow me on Twitter. The link is below: